South Cerney Outdoor Centre For Sale

18th October 2011

Gloucestershire County Council has announced that it has put the lease of the South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre up for sale. The Council have announced that they plan to sell a 125 year lease for £875,000. This announcement has ended the hopes of the local community partnership that had hoped to make a bid for the lease.

Jeremy Ackroyd, chair of the Lake 12 Partnership, said the group was "simply unable" to find the funds necessary to buy and operate the centre.

"We had offers of support from a range of public and sporting figures to whom we are immensely grateful, but the council are clearly looking to make as much money as possible in selling off the centre and we didn't think it was right to ask the general public to put their hands in their pockets to buy something that as taxpayers they already owned," he added.

South Cerney is based in the Cotswold Water Park between Cirencester and Swindon. The centre sits alongside a 47-acre lake of crystal clear water and the River Churn. The area is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Residential groups are accommodated in 33 bed log cabins plus a lakeside camping field. Gloucestershire County Council created South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre in 1971 as a non-profit organisation to promote outdoor learning and provide low cost outdoor activities for young people. The council have stated that a key condition for the new leaseholder will be to ensure that outdoor activities would continue to be provided to the public at the site.

Source: BBC News Gloucestershire